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Private sector must expedite affirmative action to contribute to inclusive growth as well as stave off pressure for job reservations, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Kumari Selja said here on Tuesday.
She said the reality of social exclusion was the single factor that was pulling the country down.
Addressing the Confederation of India Industry’s national conference on inclusivity, the Minister said only 788 firms have adopted the CII’s code of conduct for affirmative action, and added that the “progress is very slow”.
B. Muthuraman, Chairman, CII, National Committee on Affirmative Action and Vice-Chairman, Tata Steel, said: “if the inclusion does not happen it will seriously damage the national growth’’.
He said over 790 companies have signed a voluntary code of conduct for affirmative action formulated by CII.
The industry body, along with the Dalit Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is also encouraging a supplier diversity model to link SC/ST entrepreneurs with corporate India. “Vendor development meets have been organised in Mumbai, Nagpur, Chennai, Bangalore and Pune to showcase Dalit companies,” he added.
“But we are opposed to job reservations in the private sector or making it mandatory for CII members to sign the affirmative code,” he told Business Line.
“Skilling is more important. Reservations and entitlements will push Dalits down further,” he said.
Citing the example of the Tata group, he said affirmative action has led to over 100 Dalit entrepreneurs becoming vendors with the group, apart from skilling and recruiting people in the groups’ retail and BPO arms.
Pointing at the continued discrimination and exclusion of SC/STs not just in jobs but also in entrepreneurship, Sukhdeo Thorat, Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science Research, said only 14 per cent private enterprises in rural areas and 29 per cent in urban areas are SC-owned.
The poverty ratio in SC households is 25 per cent in rural and 35 per cent in urban India, he added.
Milind Kamble, Chairman, DICCI, called for supplier diversity. He cited the example of the Tatas which have identified at least 10 items that can be sourced from Dalit businessmen.
Rooting for job reservation in the private sector, H.S Kingra, Chairman, National SC Finance Development Corporation, said the private sector must ensure equal opportunities for the deprived sections as they themselves are beneficiaries of subsidies such as preferential land allotment, tax holidays etc. “which are a kind of reservation’’.
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